There were two of them, born in meltdown of the most devastating war and living in the looming of the new one, created to take lives and become icons of their and following times. The warriors, the legends, the kings, the blood brothers - SKS and AK.

To win in a future war Soviet armies needed new weapons, capable to channel the fury of new 7.62x39 round, fail-safe and deadly. First weapon was thought as heir of the old glory, semi-automatic carbine that would bring down enemies with accurate single shots at 400 m range without enormous recoil of Mosin rifle. Second one was created to go USSR on everybody's asses with devastating automatic fire and so it does up until now! While unbound badassery of AK-47 is a fact known worldwide, the topic is dedicated to older brother who had his own great moments.

SKS had it's trial by fire in the end of Great Patriotic War, when some elements of 1st Belarussian front recieved new carbines and tested them in Germany during Wermacht's last stand. The weapon proved it's worth, but still required some development, which lasted till 1949.

In the next decade, AK and SKS stood side by side in the service, supplementing each other's strengths. AK was an assaulting beast, while SKS was like hunter's bow, delivering strike to the heart. Thanks to loading automation and ability to feed the 10-round box magazine with clips, SKS concept satisfied to all requirements of that time for middle-to-long distance combat.

50s have passed and new doctrines made those qualities unnecessary and SKS started to fade away and became second line weapon. But there ain't no grave to hold this body down, so SKS emerged and appeared in number of conflicts around the world. Whether it was in jungles of Vietnam, African sands or Korean mountains, SKS stood strong and deserved to be in line with greatest firearms of 20th century. It was produced in number of variants, in Project Reality we have SKS with folding bayonet and Type 59/66 with grenade launcher muzzle and front sight, which is able to shoot grenades at almost 200 yards.

Oh man, this is freaking awesome. SKS is my favorite regular rifle in the game but I always disliked the comparatively bad model/textures. If it will have the ability to reload mid-magazine... mimimimimi